


Friday Night with Joey Royale

by RachaelGold



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 03:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14729357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RachaelGold/pseuds/RachaelGold
Summary: Chakotay is the special guest on a chat show, and gets asked some very awkward questions.Setting: 3 months post Endgame (canon friendly)





	Friday Night with Joey Royale

Joey Royale was a slightly greying thick set man in his early fifties, with an unnaturally smooth skin and piercing blue eyes. He stood in the spotlight with the easy arrogance of a man who thought he was simply the best at what he did, and deserved every strip of his rather excessive remuneration. 

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, his eyes fixed squarely on the the camscanner, "Our first guest tonight has been a hero and a villain. He's been a Starfleet Officer and a member of the Maquis. He's been on a seven year odyssey, catapulted seventy thousand light years from earth. He's made his name fighting his way back home on a lone beleaguered vessel deep in the hostile territory of the Delta Quadrant. He took on the role of Executive Officer on the Starship Voyager, and served with distinction and honour, proving he is a man of great integrity and spirit. We are extremely honoured to have him on our show tonight. Will you please give a warm welcome to Commander Chakotay!" 

The applause erupted and Royale held his arm in a gesture of welcome. Chakotay, dressed in dark pants and an open-necked shirt, sauntered into the studio from a door to the side accompanied by a ridiculous jingle. He tried hard not to look too sheepish or awkward, forcing himself to relax. In truth, he would rather have been anywhere but here, but he'd had his arm rather severely twisted. He shook hands with a beaming Joey and settled onto a sofa, as his host took his usual seat opposite. 

"Good evening, Commander Chakotay. It's good to have you here," opened Royale. 

"Chakotay will do. You can drop the Commander bit." 

"Oh good. Chakotay..tell me, what's it like to be back?" 

"It's...disconcerting. I don't think I've found my land legs yet. I'm not sure what to make of all this hullabaloo." 

"You're not enjoying your celebrity status?" asked Royale in a tone of disbelief. 

"Not really, no. I'm one for the quiet life." 

"You haven't exactly been enjoying the quiet life for the last…what ten years?" Royale said with a laugh. 

"Well, no. But I've been in a close-knit community for seven years, where everyone knows everyone really well. We grew very close, like a family. And some of us still want things to stay like that. It's hard adjusting." 

"Do you wish you were back out there? 

"No…No, I'm glad we made it home. I can't tell you how much it means to us to have reunited many of our crew with their long lost families. And I don't miss the daily fight for survival, being constantly under attack and never knowing if our supplies were going to last. It was horrible to feel so disconnected…that home is far away, and you don't know if you'll ever make it back. I don't miss any of that. It's great to have the freedom to enjoy life again. But I miss everyone, my friends and colleagues. I miss the camaraderie, the common sense of purpose, the profound and enduring relationships that were forged. I think we'll always want to stay close and spend a lot of time together." 

"You miss the crew." 

"Yes." 

"How do you survive it? How do you survive the constant barrage of attack?" 

"You pull together. You work as a team. You watch each other's backs. You learn to trust one another. And you learn to laugh together too." 

"Did you, in all that time you had out there, imagine what it was going to be like when you got home?" 

"Often. Early on, I envisioned the possibility of a jail sentence." 

"You've been exonerated?"

"Yes."

"So things worked out well for you. I read somewhere that you didn't always share the need to reach the Alpha Quadrant." 

"No…personally everything I cared about was out there with me. I had nothing left back here to return to. At least, I thought I had nothing. My family had been wiped out by a Cardassian attack on my homeworld…but it turned out that one of my sisters had survived. So I count that as an incredible blessing, and in itself was a reason to come home." 

"And you've met up with your sister?" 

"Yes. And her family." 

"How did she react to your homecoming?" 

"She was naturally as thrilled to see me as I was her. She thought I was dead too. It's been so wonderful…words can't describe how much it has meant to us to reconnect." 

"A lot of people gave you up for dead." 

"That's true. We had officially been declared lost. But as you can see, we're alive and well." 

"Well, we're all glad about that. So what's next for you? You've been offered a Captaincy?" 

"I have. But at the moment I'm weighing my options. I'm looking into the possibility of teaching at the academy." 

"So the Captaincy of Voyager doesn't appeal?" 

"Oh yes, it appeals alright. But not at the cost of some of the important relationships in my life." 

"She's some ship."

"She sure is." 

"Getting a refit." 

"Yes." 

"And in the meantime, you are writing your memoirs?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so you want to spend more time with your sister on Dorvan?"

"Of course, but I was thinking too of my Voyager friends, and what they decide to do." 

"Well, Captain Janeway is now at the Admiralty…" 

"Yes." 

"A great promotion for her." 

"A well deserved promotion for her." 

"We had her as a guest a few weeks back. Did you see the show?" 

"Yeah, I was watching." 

"She has quite an aura about her, hasn't she?" 

"Definitely. She has a compelling personality. There's something about her that draws people in…" 

"I know. I was quite smitten myself." 

"She has a command presence, an inspirational leader. She was resourceful, persuasive, determined, quick-thinking…everything we needed under the circumstances. She had a knack of turning the most dire of situations round. She could spot the chink in the veritable wall of adversity fate threw at us. We were in some of the most dangerous territory in the universe and the odds of us making it home were always pretty slim, but she always managed to seize the slightest opportunity and tip things in our favour." 

"You lost a lot of people." 

"Yeah. And she felt each and every one of those losses very deeply." 

"I got that. She was very wounded by the losses. She clearly felt deeply responsible. Were there some bleak moments?" 

"Oh yes. There were weeks and weeks when we were under constant attack, where we fought for survival from minute to minute, hardly getting any sleep, not knowing if we would still be alive the next day. Then there were weeks and weeks of utter boredom, routine tasks." 

"How do you cope with that?" 

"You just do. You don't have any choice. It's that or give up. We had a Captain who coped magnificently with the constant barrage of attack. She found it harder to deal with the weeks of inactivity. She didn't like that at all. It was down to the rest of us to keep things ticking over. We'd have drills and routine maintenance. We'd have parties and competitions, celebrations, entertainment. Neelix…" 

"The Talaxian?" 

"Yes. He did brilliantly as a morale officer. His cuisine was slightly suspect…"

"Leola root was a standing joke!" Joey laughed.

"Yes. We avoided it like the plague, but we were on rations for seven years. It was hard, very hard. But don't get me wrong, we had huge fun together too. You have to laugh and let off steam when you live under such pressure." 

"Sure. Were there times when you felt like giving up? Times when you doubted you'd ever make it home?" 

"Oh yes. We lost the ship on more than one occasion. Sometimes the enemy were just too powerful. But we had a Captain that remained determined and optimistic in public. She was great at motivating people. Things were worst when she wavered...which wasn't often...but she hid it well from the crew. But I'd know when it was all too much…we were very close. She had her dark moments. She's only human. She got tired and worn down just like the rest of us. That's when I tried to step in and shoulder more of the burden. I did my level best to support her in every way, particularly in those dark times." 

"She most definitely appreciated you. That was very obvious. You met many mortal enemies: the Borg, the Vidiians, the Kazon, to name but a few. Who were your most mortal enemy? Who were the most dangerous? Who really scared the shit out of you?" 

"People expect me to say the Borg, don't they? And I think it's true that they are by far the biggest threat to the Alpha Quadrant. But I'd have to say the Hirogen, because they took over the ship before we even knew what was happening. They took over our minds…we didn't even know who we were. They made us fight for our lives on the holodeck. They made us target practice…and it could have gone on for the rest of our lives. It was insidious, just pure evil. There was another instance of mind control…one I personally found very hard to deal with because it involved the Maquis taking over the ship and threatening the lives of our friends. That took some getting over." 

"But you and Janeway made a good team."

"Yes. Absolutely. We would have our disagreements….who doesn't? But we really got on like a house on fire." 

"There is a lot of interest in the dynamic between the two of you." Joey paused and Chakotay grinned in resignation at this. He knew such a question would come. "She was sent to capture you, right?" 

"Her primary mission was to extract Commander Tuvok from my cell." 

"He was working undercover. He'd infiltrated your cell." 

"Yes. Her orders were to pull him out and to attempt to take us into custody. Failing that, she was to ensure we were no longer a threat." 

"Code words for annihilate you." 

"Pretty much." 

"In other words, she could have blown your ship apart." 

"She could." 

"And yet, as I understand it, you sacrificed your ship for hers."

"It was either that or let the bad guys kill us all."

"Okay. A necessary sacrifice. So you transported on to her ship and you met Captain Janeway for the first time…and you stand there summing each other up. What was going through your mind?"

"Apart from was she going to shoot me? Was she going to arrest me and put me in the Brig? I saw the spark in her eyes and the confidence of her demeanour…and I thought this woman is dangerous…and damned attractive." 

"But she didn't throw you in the Brig?"

"No."

"Instead, she offers you the position of First Officer.

"That's about right." 

"She just comes right out with it? She says, how about it, Chakotay? Will you be my First Officer?"

Chakotay smiled at his naivety. "Well, there was a bit more discussion than that." 

"But you were a terrorist. You all were." 

"I never thought of myself of a terrorist. I prefer the term freedom fighter." 

"But she saw you as a terrorist." 

"I think she saw far beyond any labels. She knew my service record before I had joined the Maquis had been exemplary. She had a certain amount of sympathy for our cause…she'd been held by the Cardassians herself when she was very young, and was under no illusions about the way they treated people. She and I just disagreed about our methods for handling them." 

"Even so, she must have regarded you as dangerous. What persuaded her to take such a huge risk? The task should naturally have fallen to Commander Tuvok. Wasn't she being extremely foolhardy?" 

"On the contrary, I think it shows her incredible vision. She was immediately convinced that the two groups needed to work together even to survive out there, let alone make it home. And she decided the only way of making it work was to appoint me, as leader of the Maquis, to a senior position."

"She could have made you third or fourth in command…"

"She could…but she made me First Officer. It was bold and brassy. It was inspired. A lesser Captain would never have taken such a risk, and couldn't have made it work. She knew, somehow, we'd make a good team. She placed an incredible amount of trust in me, and I always strove to honour that."

"A marriage of convenience?"

Chakotay smiled. "Something like that."

"It must have been tricky to meld the two crews. Was there never any hint of mutiny? Did the Maquis never contemplate taking over the ship? Did you never think the ship would be better off under your command?"

"The idea never entered my head. I was very quickly bowled over by her. I could see instantly that the ship had the best possible Captain for the situation we were in. Voyager was undoubtably hers. She could take the tough decisions and think quickly under pressure. She had shown herself to be a woman of compassion, in that she was prepared to sacrifice our own fortunes and strand us out there, rather than let millions of defenceless people die at the hands of enemies, and that was exactly the same thing the Maquis had been doing back in the Alpha Quadrant. I could relate to that, and that alone told me she was somebody we could trust. She was dynamic, feisty and sexy as hell. Her own crew clearly respected and admired her, and I very soon fell head over heels in love with her. She's a totally amazing woman. There was some dissent among the rank and file of the Maquis to start with, which I had to deal with. There was a certain faction that thought I was so smitten with her, that I'd lost my ability to rationalise. Some thought I'd sold the Maquis out to her. There was a lot of resentment of everything Starfleet stood for. But she had to deal with some dissent among her ranks about giving us such a huge say in the running of the ship. However, as the weeks went by and we began to pull together as a team, we showed it could work. It only took a few battles with Captain Janeway in the big seat, for them to see the mettle she was made of. She pretty soon won over the majority of the Maquis, and I hope that I was able to prove my worth too. It wasn't long before we started thinking of ourselves as one crew, and let me tell you she was very much adored by them. A few months in, and she had them eating out of her hand."

"This sounds pretty much like a mutual admiration society. When she was on the show, she called you her rock. She painted you in very glowing colours."

"Did she?"

"Yes. The two of you clearly have a very unique bond. Which brings me to my next question. Despite that you were...pardon me for using the term again...a terrorist and she was a paragon of Starfleet authority, you two clearly got on rather well. You mentioned just now that you fell head over heels in love with her. Can you really tell me you didn't get it on with each other while you were out there?"

Chakotay spirits sank. He really didn't want to go there. But maybe he'd brought this on himself a little bit. Maybe he should have been little less effusive earlier. "No, we didn't."

"Not once?" asked Joey, incredulously.

"No. You've got to realise, that she is a woman of high principles, who took any guidelines on protocol very seriously. She was devoted to her crew and to the goal of bringing us home safely, and she was never going to compromise that in any way."

"Interesting…because she refused to be drawn on the issue."

"I'm sure she did."

"But you were attracted to each other?"

"We were very attracted to each other," Chakotay answered emphatically, "And we forged a very deep personal friendship. It was very special. It was exactly right...exactly what we needed out there. I hope and believe that I supported her to the best of my ability all the way. But she certainly believed she could not get emotionally involved with somebody under her command, and whilst I did not necessarily agree with that, I accepted that she felt that's what she had to do."

"Captains can't have sex for seven years?" Joey queried, in mock outrage. There was a titter from the studio audience at this.

"That would be a bit unreasonable."

"Starfleet can't possibly put such demands on its personnel. Nobody would sign up for that!"

"No. But it's not generally accepted that a command team should literally get into bed with each other."

"That's certainly firing my imagination!" said Royale, wriggling his eyebrows. "Okay, so what about when you were stranded alone together for three months?"

"It was a huge emotional upheaval to come to terms with the fact that we were going to live out the rest of our lives in isolation. I accepted it very quickly. To me living there…it was a beautiful unspoiled planet…with someone for whom I had such a huge affection…was idyllic. She had difficulty in accepting that we wouldn't find a way to return to Voyager, and I felt she needed time."

"Were you disappointed to be rescued?"

"No. Well, only on a personal level. It meant the loss of our developing romance. But it was the right decision for our future well-being, and it was the right decision for the ship. She is at heart a more sociable creature than I am, and the lack of human contact would have proved difficult in the long-term."

"You could have been there a long time. If one of you had died, the other would have been alone."

"Exactly."

"But there was a blossoming romance?"

"You could say that."

"You were there three months!"

"Yes."

"Let me say, you need to get your act together! Holy cow, three months!" The audience laughed now, and Chakotay shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"You have to remember that she was technically engaged to somebody back home."

"You were the only man on the planet, her fiancé was seventy thousand light years away and you still couldn't get your act together?"

Chakotay squirmed. "The one thing I thought we had was time. We were potentially stuck there forever, with only each other for company. One mis-step could have been disastrous. Besides, you don't rush a woman of Kathryn's pedigree."

"Sure. I believe you," said Royale, in a tone which suggested the exact opposite. "You'd only known each other a couple of years by then! I wouldn't call that rushing."

"No."

"Did you ever discuss the possibility of a relationship between the two of you? "

"Yes, but not often. It was a touchy subject."

"So, if I'm reading this right, it was her decision that nothing could come of it."

"It was her view that nothing could come of it before we got home. We settled for a beautiful friendship."

"I hate to point this out to you…you got home."

"Er…Yes."

"And her fiancé had married someone else."

"Yes."

"So what happened?"

"Er…nothing as yet."

"You still can't get your act together! What's the matter with you?"

Chakotay didn't answer this. He was well aware he'd missed his opportunity when they got home, and it stung.

"Weren't you dating Seven of Nine when you got home?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it dating. We spent a few weeks together, yes."

"You wouldn't exactly call it dating?" Joey said, with a sneer.

"No…well, she asked me out."

"Okay…it was her idea. Every man's fantasy come true. What hot-blooded male could refuse?"

"Seven's a lovely woman, and I enjoyed our time together, but we are not particularly well suited. I'm nearly twice her age for a start."

"That doesn't stop some people. It doesn't stop me." There was another titter from the studio audience at this.

"No, but apart from our experiences in the Delta Quadrant, we had little in common. And I realised my heart was still engaged elsewhere."

"You mean you were still in love with Kathryn Janeway?"

"Yes."

"Has this caused some rift in your friendship with the esteemed Admiral?"

"No, I don't think so," responded Chakotay, hoping with little conviction it was the truth. "We'll always be friends."

"Come off it! I think she'd be a bit pissed about it."

"Well...maybe. I didn't think..." Chakotay stumbled. "I didn't realise it at the time. She said she was happy for me…she wished us both the best. But since I haven't seen her in three months, I think I badly misjudged it. My one regret about the whole affair is that it gave out the wrong signals. It made it look as if I didn't care anymore, when the exact opposite is true. I miss Kathryn like crazy. I've no idea where she is."

"You've no idea where she is?" Joey Royale rolled his eyes incredulously.

Chakotay swallowed. It hurt to admit it. "No." Suddenly seized with some utter madness, he turned to the camscanner and looked straight out at the invisible audience stretched across the galaxy. "Kathryn, if you're listening, I love you to bits. Please let's talk about this."

For a moment, Joey Royale looked a bit lost for words. He'd been momentarily upstaged by his guest.

Joey cleared his throat. "Well…Admiral Janeway, I sure hope you're listening. The Commander couldn't put it plainer than that. That's one lovelorn man we've got here, folks." He turned back to his guest. "Well, Mr. Chakotay, it's been a pleasure having you on our show tonight. I hope things work out for you, I really do. Thank-you for joining us." He reached forward and shook Chakotay's hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for our guest, Commander Chakotay."

The applause deafened for a few moments, and Chakotay sank back into his seat in relief. He would be able to make his escape in just a minute or so, and he couldn't wait to get out of the studio.

Joey Royale turned his huge grinning face to the audience. "Well now, it's time for me to introduce our next guests. A year ago they were unheard of. Nobody, in the history of music, has ever signed up a Klingon boy band before. Just three months ago they recorded their first song "Mar'h trigh hach…" which stormed the charts across the universe. Today they released their new album and they're here to sing to us tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, a huge welcome for Aedris Kagh!"

There was some wild cheering from the audience as some discordant strummed notes began to pierce the noise. A minute or so later, the floor manager indicated to Chakotay that his ordeal was over and he could leave the studio at last.

He walked with some relief along a dingy corridor and turned right into the brighter hospitality suite. Here a smiling hostess congratulated him on his performance and offered him a drink. His thoughts were in turmoil, as he accepted a Romulan ale and sat on yet another bland sofa. Had he just made a complete idiot of himself? Whatever made him do that? He knew though, that the conversation had got more personal than he would have liked, and he'd seen an opportunity to grab Kathryn's attention and seized it. Spirits, he hoped he hadn't ruined their friendship. He'd let his guard down and acted like a stupid lovesick teenager. She might be mad as hell at his outburst, being an intensely private person. Indeed, so was he! How had he made such a fool of himself? She'd managed to survive the interview with Joey Royale without making a complete ass of herself, so why couldn't he? Royale had shown her nothing but respect.

Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he was a complete idiot who couldn't get his act together. He'd always respected Kathryn's decision not to get further involved out in the Delta Quadrant. He knew as well as she how vital it was that their command relationship remained harmonious. He knew too that the terrible strain of day to day combat and the constant struggle for survival could have been very destructive to any deeper relationship.

But he still mourned the loss of a friendship that had held so much promise.

The hostess, who had left him with his ale, sensing his sombre mood and need to be alone, now reappeared in the doorway.

"Mr. Chakotay?"

Chakotay looked up miserably.

"There's someone here to see you…" she continued with a hint of sympathy in her voice and a twinkle of amusement in her eye. She stepped aside to reveal a grinning Kathryn Janeway, clad in a thick pale coat, her hair falling loosely onto her shoulders. She had clearly come out in a hurry. Chakotay caught his breath as his eyes swept over her. He was reminded once again just why he was so crazy about this woman.

"Kathryn?" he gave an embarrassed laugh, but his delight lit up his face.

"I'll leave you two to it," said the hostess in an amused tone. "If there's nothing you need…"

"No, nothing." The woman nodded in acknowledgement and vanished leaving the two old friends staring awkwardly at each other for a few moments. Then Chakotay opened his arms in welcome and Kathryn stepped gratefully into his embrace. He wrapped her close to him and kissed her forehead affectionately. His heart was racing, and he hoped she couldn't feel it.

"You were listening!"

"Could I resist? It's the only way I get to see you these days."

"Now be fair, that isn't entirely my fault."

"No."

"Where have you been hiding?"

"My old quarters on Voyager."

"Oh," he answered in surprise.

"It's about the only place I can escape the reporters."

"Figures. I didn't think the crew quarters had life support…"

"They do on deck 3…Admiral's privilege."

"Hmm. I've missed you," he said, pulling back and gazing affectionately into her eyes.

"I've missed you too." She hesitated, on uncertain ground now. "Did you mean it?"

He took a deep breath. "Every word," he admitted.

"Even the bit about loving me?" she queried tremulously.

"Especially the bit about loving you."

"Good, because I love you too."

"Well, that's a relief!" Chakotay laughed, and for a few moments they just gazed at each other, reading the truth of the love held deep within. Chakotay's heart was pounding now, but nothing could stop him from leaning forward and capturing her lips with his. To his utter delight, she responded eagerly, opening herself to his questing tongue. She tasted so sweet, so soft, so inviting. He began to feel a little light-headed, as the dizzying kiss went on.

He pulled back. "That was…pretty spectacular," he told her. She laughed in agreement, her eyes alight with a happiness that thrilled him to the core. He hadn't seen her look this joyful in ages. "Then I always knew it would be. You kiss as well as you command."

"You want to go somewhere we can talk?" she asked him.

His mouth twisted with amusement. "Kathryn Janeway…I want to do a helluva lot more than talk."

She nodded almost imperceptibly, and he took it as a good sign. "And most of it involves getting naked…" he added.

She grinned, taking his hand. "Oh good…then I think we'd better get ourselves out of here." She leaned in to take him in another passionate kiss.

"Better make it snappy…or I think I'm going to lose all sense of propriety any moment…"

"I'll get us beamed out of here…We'll go to Voyager. That way we can avoid the reporters who are most probably already outside."

"Seems appropriate." He kissed her again, revelling in this new freedom to touch her. Spirits, it felt wonderful. He drew back and noticed movement in the shadows behind her. "Don't look now, but I think we're already on camera."

"What?" She looked behind her, and saw with horror that there was at least one camscanner trained on them, and a hoard of gleeful technicians behind it. "Damn!"

"Kathryn," Chakotay whispered in her ear. "I don't see any need to hide this. I'm honoured that you love me…and I hope you feel the same. And protocol has no place keeping us apart anymore."

"You're right," she said, relaxing and smiling. She slipped her arm into his, and turned to face the camera. She was equally honoured by his love, and maybe it was time to show the world.

* * *

  


Joey Royale was having a hard time with his last guest that evening, a Bolean mud-wrestler who had landed a major part in a soon to be released holo-vid. The guy did not appear particularly intelligent, and was answering the probing questions with mono-syllabic phases and a distinctly bored tone. It didn't matter hugely. Joey was very fond of his own voice, and was rarely as lost for words as circumstances were about to make him. He was very thrown to see a major exodus of the floor managers. Two of the three camscanners trained on him disappeared down a corridor. He tried valiantly to carry on, despite the noisy carfuffle coming from that same direction, until he noticed his director waving at him to follow. It took him a moment to catch on.

"Ladies and gentlemen…I don't know what's going on here…if you'll excuse me just a moment…."

He jumped up and headed for the corridor that had just swallowed the two camscanners and the majority of the production team. He had to push his way past a whole heap of people before he could see what was so interesting. There, at the far end of the dim corridor, in full view of a substantial swathe of the universe, were Commander Chakotay and Admiral Janeway lip-locked in a passionate embrace.

For a few moments Joey Royale was as stunned and excited as the rest of them. Then he collected himself and moved forward to insinuate himself in front of one of the cameras.

"Ladies and gentlemen…I think we can safely say that Commander Chakotay and Admiral Janeway are seeing each other…seeing rather a lot of each other actually. It's only taken them seven years to get their act together, but it looks like they finally have. I'd like to think that we had a hand in giving them a bit of a push in the right direction. I'm sure you all join me in wishing them well. Remember, you heard it first on the Joey Royale show! We get all the big stories and all the best gossip. Let's just see if the happy couple have any comments to make." He turned round hoping for something from either of the parties, but clearly neither had any intention of breaking away to say anything to anyone, let alone giving Joey Royale any further soundbites. They were far too engrossed in each other. Royale finally seemed to realise it, and turned back to his audience. "Well, it seems they're overly occupied at the moment, so I think this is my cue to say goodnight. That's all folks! Have a good weekend. Our two guests here certainly will. Goodnight, everybody. Thanks for watching." 

* * *

  


Epilogue (I couldn't resist.)

Monday Morning with Kathryn Janeway

Chakotay turned over and snuggled into the sleeping form beside him. It penetrated his hazy mind that he was very lucky. He'd found his soul-mate, and she was here in his arms, in her old quarters on Voyager. And for once he wasn't dreaming!

How often he had dreamed of this! It had been a recurring theme, especially in the early years of his relationship with Kathryn Janeway. He thought back to when he first met her. Even then, he'd known he was very lucky. In those first few days of knowing her, his heart had told him that he'd met his soul-mate. He remembered now how disconcerted he'd been when he discovered she had a fiancé back home. He'd searched the databases for every little detail he could find on her. He could pretend to himself it was justified merely on the grounds of needing to know with whom the Maquis were forming an alliance, and not because he was totally fascinated by his new commanding officer. The result was he'd been inappropriately disappointed that she was spoken for. She'd never volunteered the information, and he wondered if that had been the deliberate ploy of a powerful woman, who sensed his attraction to her and believed she could use that to her advantage.

The simple obstacle of a fiancé hadn't stopped him dreaming, but over the years the dream had faded. However, it had never gone away. And now it was back, fully realised. He had just spent the most exhilarating, satisfying weekend of his life getting to know this woman in a whole new way. They'd caressed, they'd explored, they'd made love over and over, barely coming out of the bedroom for over two days. It was all so wonderful.

It had been a revelation really. How comfortable Kathryn was with her sexuality! He'd wondered on occasions whether she wasn't somewhat inhibited about that side of her life, but he should have realised that she would be just as enthusiastic as she was about everything else she did.

They'd started making plans. He told her he wanted the Captaincy of Voyager, and she'd encouraged him to accept it. But he didn't want to be apart from her. He had this terrible dread that she would disappear out of sight, go off on some dangerous mission, and get herself killed or assimilated or something. No, now that he finally had her, he couldn't bear to be apart from her for a moment longer than necessary.

So she'd promised to ask for an office aboard Voyager. She was confident she had some sway at HQ, and he thought, given that she was Starfleet's golden girl, that this was probably an understatement.

He lifted his head and kissed her naked shoulder in several places, enjoying the feel of her skin under his lips. Naturally, his beloved stirred. Her eyes opened and a similar smile of satisfaction spread on her lips.

"Morning, beautiful," he whispered.

"Morning."

She wriggled closer into his embrace, and he pushed the hair away from her face. Her dark eyes danced with happiness, their usual blueness chased away by the dim light. It was a delight to behold, and Chakotay's spirit soared.

His hands wandered and his kisses became more insistent, but Kathryn pulled out of his embrace and climbed out of bed.

"Hold that thought…I need to use the bathroom."

"Hurry back," he insisted, as his eyes savoured the delicious rear view of his woman.

She disappeared into the bathroom without completely shutting the door.

"Do you have to go to work today?" he asked hopefully, a few moments later.

"You know I do," she called from the bathroom.

"Can't you call in sick? Say you've got a family crisis? Got to get married or something."

"What was that?" She appeared at the door, looking a bit shocked.

"I said, couldn't you call in sick?"

"No after that."

"Couldn't you say you've got to get married?" he said tentatively.

"Was that just a flippant remark or…"

"I said it flippantly." He drew a deep breath. "But that doesn't mean I'm not deadly serious."

"Oh."

"Yes."

"You're proposing?"

"I guess I am," he smiled. "Kathryn, will you marry me?"

"Today?"

"I imagine it could be arranged."

"I thought I (quote) wasn't the sort of girl you rushed!" she complained, putting her hand on her hip and throwing his words during the interview back at him. Chakotay nearly laughed. How comical it looked to see her so familiar body language, but totally naked!

"Well...I think I could have been a bit wrong about that. I think maybe I should have put more pressure on you."

"I see. So you think I can just up and leave all my duties to someone else and go and get married?"

"That's about the gist of it."

She broke into a broad grin. "Well, let me see. I have some deadly boring meeting with Admiral Flint and some work to do on the Romulan situation…but somehow…I've got to admit your suggestion is holds significantly more appeal."

"So that's a yes?" he asked, grabbing her round the waist and pulling her close for a kiss.

"It's a yes."

"Good…so now we've got that settled, are you coming back to bed?"

 

And that really is all, folks! Thanks for reading.


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